Grad Student Resources

General Advice

• How to do Graduate-level Research: Some Advice: (a document aimed towards PhD students, but very applicable to MSc students as well; important passages highlighted and some strike-throughs where needed)
• Another great resource on how to be a successful grad student from McGill university (it would be great to have these pages with links to actual CPP resources, but most of the advice still applies): "Being a Supervisee"
• The most important qualities of the ideal graduate research candidate and the most substantial shortcomings that affect satisfactory progress
• How to write a successful research proposal for higher degree research: useful guidelines while you are writing your MSc proposal, or a research proposal for funding
• What I've learned in grad school (written by volcanology PhD student)
• How I cured my imposter syndrome
• The American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting: Advice from a Newcomer
• Networking tips for graduate students (from Nature)
• Research, Presentations and Scientific Writing
• You and your advisor

Specific to CPP

Required Documents

• Every Master's student is required to fill out a Graduate Contract (Jan2015 version). Check the information for available course and required deadlines below.
• Official GSC600 guidelines for the Master's proposal (both the written component as well as the presentation) for the Geological Sciences Department. (Updated June 2015)
• Official GSC696 guidelines for the Master's thesis and defense for the Geological Sciences Department. (Updated Sept. 2015)
  • Writing and formatting your Master's thesis (in terms of Library requirements)
  • Tips on Master's thesis library formatting and electronic submissions (written by Raymond Ng 1/16/2017).

Important Resources

• **Important deadlines** for Geology MS Students. Please refer to these dates in order to meet all required deadlines.
• Up to date information on the curriculum for Master's students (includes courses from Fall 2012 to Spring 2017).
  • Also look over the classes page for some more informal information on classes outside of the department
• Full-time and part-time student status and **financial aid** (e.g. 4 units is the minimum load per quarter for graduate students to avoid triggering repayment of student loans)
• CPP’s grad student handbook
• Information on applying to a MSc at Cal Poly

For Undergraduates Taking Classes for Graduate Credit

• For credit in a 400 or 500 level course, fill out the Request by Undergraduate for Graduate Credit and turn it in before the end of the quarter that you are taking the course.

Grades

• College of Science advisors and the Registrar's Office have stated that the overall GPA for an MSc student is also affected by undergrad courses that do not "count" towards their curriculum

• You will be dropped from the program if you have not taken any classes for a certain time period (a "stop-out"), you can determine how many quarters you can go without registering for a class.
• To graduate in a specific quarter, you have to be registered for a class (any class) in that quarter.
• You may enroll in the unit-less (but not free!) GSC699 class if you have no other units left in your curriculum, to avoid being "absent" from the university or to be able to graduate that quarter.